Featuring Digital PhotoArt of Rainbow Creek
by: brendasue







The Birds of Rainbow Creek

The Birds of Rainbow Creek
by: brendasue of Kates Cabin Bird Sanctuary in Waller County, Texas

Friday, July 30, 2010

Photo Friday Night Special by: brendasue





Warning:  You may find some of the images disturbing in today's photostudy.  Enter at Your Own Risk








       Yellow Iris on Rainbow Creek                      by:  brendasue


Welcome Everyone to peaceful Rainbow Creek. I am not presenting any disturbing images, only my usual Nature Photos of Rainbow Creek.   If you are disturbed by anything, it will be coming from within your own imagination and not from my images!


In the present time (month of July 2010),in Houston, Texas, a rare event occurred that made the world headlines:  Corpse Flower Blooms. Indeed this is a rare event.  I do not have a Corpse Flower, however I have one almost as rare and in the same family--The Dragon Lily (or Black Arum), sometimes called Voodoo lily.  My flower is not as fat as the 'Corpse', but I believe it was taller. 


Anyway, they had a video camera on the one in Houston documenting the opening and bloom. As I am always entertained by human nature, I had to laugh when I heard that two people were going to get married standing next to the blooming Corpse Flower (which has a stinky period for about 24hours). To me, this just seems absurd!


In honor of this world event of a blooming Corpse Flower in Texas (and to the new married couple), I have elected to share my Dragon Lily in today's photostudy. Enjoy! 






       Purple Iris Bud on Rainbow Creek                                    by:  brendasue



This Iris is growing on the banks of Rainbow Creek. A beautiful Bud. We will be heading up to the roof shortly, where Kay Lonnie is waiting to give the signal to open the class.  We will sneak up on her and see if she is sleeping on the job again.


Somebody gave me a weird looking bulb and I planted it down by the creek not knowing what it was. I forgot about it as no growth came from it until the following year. A big single stalk just shot up out of the ground and one day when I ventured out to the creek, this is what I saw:






                           The Black Arum                       by:  brendasue












     Hickory Horned Devil                                            by:  brendasue


Everybody, this is turning out to be a very strange Friday Night. Very Special.  This is a Green Alien that has dropped in to give the signal to open Our Class today. (Kay Lonnie will be upset). Oh  well.


Let the Class Begin!


Thank you little green alien named Hickory Horned Devil. Who would believe you transform into a beautiful big silk Moth? (Yes, I know, you were the original transformers).


I guess we better go to the Roof and find Kay Lonnie.












There she is. Hey Kay guess what? The Hickory Horned Devil already opened the class.  Kay Lonnie?   What is the Matter?  You look like you saw a ghost!  Cat got your tongue?  What's wrong?
















Kay Lonnie?  Are You smoking up here on the roof? What is that smell?








What do you mean you started smoking Cigars with Holly Denslow?
Some nice man taught you the 'art' of smoking cigars?


No one is going to believe this!










I am sure you do feel a little dizzy. Be careful not to fall off the roof.
I am going to have to consult with a dog therapist to see what to do about Kay Lonnie sneaking up to the roof to smoke cigars. 
This could be a stepping stone to smoking Pot or Banana peel.







No more distractions. Let's get to the Photostudy of the Dragon Lily or Voodoo Lily:













































































There you go. This concludes our photostudy of my rare black Arum.  Now I know things can be strange. Dogs can be strange. And for sure people can be the strangest!  I simply cannot imagine what man would ask a woman to Marry him and say her vows to him while she is looking at a part of a flower, symbolic of a type of 'hugeness', such as the Corpse Flower in Houston. Texas.


(I know......and they think I am the bird brain; Go Figure).


To see photos of a Corpse Flower visit the link below.




http://pages.videojug.com/pages/1477










Other News to Report on my Toad Post.  A friend  of Kates Cabin in Bastrop commented that I had misidentified the above toads. I said (incorrectly) they were Houston Toads. They are  really named Gulf Coast Toads. Thank you for letting us know, and please anyone add comments at anytime as I will be the first to say:  The more I know, the more I discover there is that I will never know.


Anyway, it is now perfectly clear to me why the toad did not turn into a Prince. (Of course I kissed him just in case it was true.)  He was not the kind of toad that turns into a Prince. It must be only the other kind that turn into the Prince. All I know is I sure have kissed alot of toads. No Prince yet. Starting to think that may not be true.








Great News to Report.  Scout, the first hummingbird is here!  The rest will begin arriving in a few days. I am cooking the sugar water!
This is a Great Time of Year as the summer will melt into fall.







Off I go into the wild blue yonder. Trying to catch a ride with this guy!  I will be back on Monday. Guests coming to Kates Cabin This Weekend.









Here is King Buzz (my buzzard that is in love with me). He wanted to close the class.


Let there be a Great Sunset











And there was a great sunset.       Goodnight All.     Look Up!













This Blog, the photos, Me, You  and everything was made possible
all because Once Upon A Time Someone said:  Let There Be Yellow Light and Purple Haze.














Actually, I can't remember the exact words, but you get the idea.



.....this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek






katescabin@gmail.com







Come out of your sadness every now and then and just laugh.  b





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Photostudy Today: Ginger Flower by: brendasue

Welcome to All The New People From Around The World. Please come in and join our Nature Class on a Page.  No Teacher, No Tests, Come if you want to, or click off.  No rules.  No spankings!






              The Angel's Trumpet (with bees)   by:  brendasue








Let The Class Begin!          
(Thank You, Woodpecker)




As many of you know, I have opened up Kates Cabin On Rainbow Creek as a living lab. Through my photoArt, I bring living things and scenes of Nature out of the dark woods to these pages for you to see. I believe if we educate ourselves just a little bit about the living things that share the planet with us, we will stop being afraid of things that look odd to us. We will also learn more about ourselves and why we are here on Earth. Most people just sit on the earth or walk on it or drive on it. If we all cared about our own little piece of earth, we could secure a good healthy earth for the grandchildren.
So why not ask yourself everyday:  What have I done for My Earth Today? Plant a tree? Plant a flower? Begin a Photo Journal of the Nature around You? Stop Polluting? Stop Using Pesticides?
So many things we can do to make things a little better.


If you are here, then we are looking at a flower today.   I had not been down to the creek in a week or so. When I was walking around Kates Cabin today, I thought I heard a Hummingbird outside the wooden fence. I opened the back gate and there was a single beautiful flower with a hummingbird on it! The flower stalk had come up without me aware of it until today.


Our photostudy today will be this single flower down by the Rainbow Creek:  A Butterfly Ginger. For our new photographers, I put a series of photos of subject here for you to see. You can see the effects of the background changes, the sunlight changes, the zoom changes, the camera position changes and decide if you want to experiment with with shooting several shots of subject while you are learning your camera. By reviewing your photos, you will decide what looks best to you, what works best for you.


(*Note:  I shoot with a point and shoot hand held lightweight camera. (Canon SX10IS  Powershot). I enjoy the freedom of movement and the quickness to get a quick shot of a bird or something. Now my images are good enough for me for what I am doing, presenting nature by photos for children and those who cannot read english. In photos, anyone can see what they want.)


Beginners may want to start at this level where I am, but for those who really enjoy photography, you can always upgrade to  much better camera equipment and of course better results in the image.
There are great photography teachers. I personally attend the seminars of Doug Box, who is here in Texas (dougbox@aol.com).
You can find classes everywhere. I say teach yourself as much as you can before you sign on for a long, expensive photography course. It can get to be a very expensive hobby and most professional photographers are not making a good living at their Art as everyone has cameras now, more than ever before in history. So it is okay to start as a hobby like I have done and then if you decide to make that your profession you will have that option to upgrade to better equipment and classes.  Good Luck! This is a Good Way to Enjoy Life:  Get Outside with Your Camera!






                            Butterfly Ginger            by:  brendasue



































































































































This concludes our points of view photostudy of the Butterfly Ginger Flower.  We started out with green background and ended on blue background. What a great flower. There are thousands of gingers that grow in tropical areas of our earth. I encourage you to 'Google" Ginger.  I encourage you to eat ginger root.
(Did anyone see the little green grasshopper on top of the flower?)














Well, we have come to the end of another great day on Rainbow Creek. I invite you to leave a comment and let me know what country you are from!
I invite you to push the follow button so I can see you.  Thanks for coming by and come back again.














.......this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek.










                        katescabin@gmail.com















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Thursday, July 29, 2010

I Will Never Forget My First Blue Bee by: brendasue



Welcome To The World Nature Class

Come In and see the Blue Bee!








Double Poppy      by:  brendasue  (aka-Crandma Poppy)








Here is Kay Lonnie Wray up on the roof waiting for the class to begin.













Surprise Guest:  Kate        by:  Grandma!

Let The Class Begin!















Today's photostudy will be about this Blue Bee (who is really called a Blue Wasp).
This one is moving that piece of wood with his head!













He picks it up and pushes it over.




Then he walks over it.











He begins to dig under his bridge he made with the piece of wood chip.












He throws the dirt out with all of his legs! He can dig really fast.












Looks like he is making a tunnel under the wood.













Look at this!  The Bee can Dig!












He backs out moving lots of dirt.  He can outdig a dog!










Now he is just walking off.












Hey You, Blue---Where are you going?   This is your chance to be a Star!









These blue wasp are called  blue mud wasp, or mud dauber. They stay alone as opposed to social groups like honeybees.  It says only the females gather the dirt. (So the one above that I have been calling 'he' is really a 'she').












Isn't She Beautiful in her metallic blue color with blue wings to match?













Thank You, Blue Mud Wasp for letting us have a look at You.
(very difficult to photograph as they do not quit moving!)














WOW    What a Dauber!








You can find out more about this bee here:   http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2006/08/05/blue-mud-wasp-2/




Thanks for coming by today,  Check back.





.....this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek








katescabin@g.mail.com











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